Home Invasion

By Monique Polak

Josh is less than thrilled that he has a new stepfather, and finds his personal habits—and his personality—irritating. When his mother leaves town, Josh is left to spend a week alone with Clay. Resenting his new living arrangements and his unorthodox home life, Josh finds himself drawn to the idea of a "regular" family and, on a whim, sneaks into a neighbor's house to see how others live. When another opportunity arises to be a fly on the wall, Josh takes it and finds himself becoming bolder. Considering it a harmless pastime, Josh continues entering people's houses, until he is witness to a violent home invasion. Josh must use all his courage to save himself and bring the home invader to justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Sep 1, 2005
• ISBN: 9781554696369

Monique Polak

Monique Polak is the author of more than thirty books for young people. She is the three-time winner of the Quebec Writers' Federation Prize for Children's and YA Literature for her novels Hate Mail, What World is Left and Room for One More. In addition to teaching at Marianopolis College in Montreal, Monique is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Maclean's Magazine, the Montreal Gazette and other Postmedia newspapers. She is also a columnist on ICI Radio-Canada's Plus on est de fous, plus on lit! In 2016, Monique was the CBC/Quebec Writers' Federation inaugural writer-in-residence. Monique lives in Montreal.

Book preview

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Chapter One

Don’t ask me what she sees in him. He’s not handsome, that’s for sure. He’s got chipmunk cheeks and this weird cowlick that looks like a rhino’s horn. She thinks he’s funny, but then Mom’s always had a bizarre sense of humor.

The two of them were at it again last night.

My room’s right next to theirs, and the walls are paper-thin. I could hear their bed creaking. I tried pulling the pillow over my head, but then I heard Mom’s voice, soft and low.

She kept whispering the same disgusting thing—over and over again.

Shh, Clay, she kept saying. We don’t want to wake Josh up.

As if I wasn’t already awake.

How do they expect me to look at them in the morning?

I was sitting in the kitchen reading the comics. Mom was just leaving for a run. The last thing she said to me was Don’t let the home invader in!

Everyone in Montreal’s talking about the home invader. He’s some guy—or maybe it’s a girl (I don’t want to be sexist here)—who robs houses while the people who live in them are home. You gotta admit, it’s pretty creepy. Bad enough getting burgled when you’re out, but imagine it happening when you’re right there.

Mom was already out the door, so she didn’t hear what I muttered under my breath: You already let him in.

Of course I was talking about Clay. Her new husband. My stepfather. Montreal’s number one home invader.

Things were going fine before Clay moved in. Him and all his stuff. His maroon bathrobe, his weird recipes, his old turn-table—who listens to vinyl anymore?—and the little scraps of paper he’s always doodling on.

As I was thinking that, Clay rushed downstairs. The guy’s always in a hurry, late for one thing or another. He had a big white blob of shaving cream smack in the middle of his chin. If I were nicer, I’d tell him.

But I’m not that nice.

Have you seen my keys, kiddo? he asked.

I shrugged. If he were normal, he’d use the key holder that’s hanging in the front hallway. It’s got little hooks, and it’s shaped like a key, so you’d think he’d figure out what it’s meant for. But Clay is not exactly normal. He rifled through a pile of papers on the desk in the corridor, adding to the mess. I wondered if he thought about checking his pockets.

I heard him opening the front closet. From where I was sitting in the kitchen, I could only see the soles of his feet. He was on his knees, taking stuff out. I spotted a pair of skates and the box where we kept mittens. Didn’t he realize it was July? Why would his keys be in with the winter stuff?

Suddenly he started talking to himself. We need to do something about this closet, he said. Then he started emptying the whole thing out. I could hear him dragging out the vacuum cleaner and some suitcases. I bet he had forgotten about the keys altogether. Which would be just like Clay. He’s not exactly focused. Mom says it’s because he has an artistic personality—and that that’s one of the things she loves about him—but if you ask me, that’s just an excuse. In my opinion, the guy’s a disaster.

He had emptied so much crap into the corridor, I could barely see the front door. Then he stood up again, surveying his work.

There you are, you little bugger, I heard him say. Then his voice dropped. Right in my front pocket. I tried not to laugh.

Now that he had found his keys, he would probably forget about putting the stuff back in the closet. If I did that, Mom would have a fit. But she never, ever gets mad at Clay. It’s one more thing I hate about him.

The doorbell rang. I could hear Clay wade through the mess he had made.

I put the comics down and headed out into the corridor. It looked like a war zone. A girl and a middle-aged woman were standing in our vestibule. They didn’t look like home invaders. Besides, home invaders don’t use the bell.

I’m Annette Levesque, the woman said, reaching out to shake Clay’s hand. She looked tired. This is my daughter, Patsy. Patsy smiled. She had braces and wavy brown hair. You could tell she’d rather not be here. We just moved in two doors down and we’re wondering if you have an X-Acto knife we could borrow. Ours is in a box somewhere.

We need an X-Acto knife so we can open boxes and find our X-Acto knife, Patsy explained.

I laughed. I’ll get it. By the way, I said before I headed back to the kitchen for the knife, I’m Josh. I lifted my chin toward my stepfather. He’s Clay.

Welcome to the ‘hood, Clay said.

Why did he have to say ‘hood? He’s such a loser.

When I got back with the knife, Clay and

Reviews for Home Invasion

[kmmsb459 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

For me there just wasn't enough story.

[coriblake · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a fun, easy and of us can relate to Josh, who has to deal with his mother's new husband; a pain for sure. Josh is a teenage boy who wants his independence. He's figuring out who he is and definitely does not want to be told what to do especially from a man who is not his biological father. I enjoyed reading this fast paced pseudo type thriller of a story. Why does Josh feel the need to sneak into people's houses and watch them? Does he mean any harm? All of us at one time or another have probably wondered what it was like to be someone else or walk in someone else's shoes, right? Read this book and you'll find out just that.